Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Australian Space Agency (ASA) have signed an Implementation Agreement (IA) for further strengthening cooperation in space activities between Australia and India.

The IA, which enables cooperation between both space agencies on crew and crew module recovery for Gaganyaan missions, was signed between the two space agencies on November 20.

ISRO has embarked on the Human Spaceflight Mission, Gaganyaan programme with an objective of demonstrating human space flight capability (HSFC) in Low Earth Orbit in an Indian Crew Module with up to three crew members for up to three days, and safely recovering them after the mission.

The IA enables the Australian authorities to work with Indian authorities to ensure support for search and rescue of crew and recovery of crew module as part of contingency planning for ascent phase aborts near Australian waters.

India and Australia are enduring strategic partners. Both space agencies are working closely and are committed to explore current and future collaboration activities. The signing of the IA is another step forward in the cooperation between Indian and Australian space agencies.

IA was signed by D.K. Singh, Director, HSFC on behalf of ISRO in Bengaluru, and Jarrod Powell, General Manager, Space Capability Branch, on behalf of ASA at Canberra.

Under the Gaganyaan programme, ISRO intends to carry out three un-crewed missions and one crewed mission. The first un-crewed mission is scheduled to take place in 2024-25, and the first crewed mission is scheduled in 2025-27.